The Retired Street Sweeper!

The hovercar wobbled half a meter into the air and headed north along Riverside Avenue. Morning wind slipped down Su Bai's collar, and a freighter sounded its horn on the river.

Su Bai steered with one hand and answered two messages with the other.

One was from Su Xiaoxiao: Bro! Remember to eat breakfast!

She had added three exclamation marks.

He replied with two words: Already ate.

Ten minutes later, on the street behind the school.

Half the street was breakfast stalls, the other half print shops. At this hour, it was packed with students hurrying along with buns in their mouths.

Su Bai had just scanned a code to pay two yuan at a bun shop when a commotion broke out down the street.

"Move! Everybody move!"

A manhole cover lay flipped aside. A gray-furred monster half a meter long sprang onto the road, caked in mud. Its four paws scrambled as it darted for any opening it could find.

F-rank, stage one. A Mud Swamp Rat. Its Magic Power Scale reading hovered around 120, equivalent to a one-star Sprout.

Two trainee agents in navy uniforms chased after it, their Psionic Short Blades half-drawn and their feet slipping beneath them.

"Cut it off! Left, left!"

"It's coming your way!"

The Mud Swamp Rat skidded to a stop, spun around, and spat a huge glob of black mud all over the lead agent's head and face.

The watching students burst out laughing.

"What's so funny? Stand back!" The other agent waved his blade around but hesitated to advance. When the Mud Swamp Rat darted toward the crowd, he backed away instead.

"Master, both these trainees have readings above three hundred," Kabi clicked his tongue. "Two against one, and a rat's running circles around them."

"They passed the written exam." Su Bai took a bite of his bun. "They've never killed a monster."

Just as the Mud Swamp Rat was about to vanish into the crowd, the old man at the nearby crepe stall set down his batter ladle.

He was in his sixties, with batter on his apron and old scars crisscrossing his arms. He snatched up his metal crepe spatula and took half a step forward.

The spatula came down, swift and steady.

Smack.

The Mud Swamp Rat's skull burst. Its four legs twitched twice, then went still.

The whole street fell silent for a second.

"What are you staring at?" The old man carried the spatula back to his stall and rinsed it in a bucket. "You hit low when a monster hugs the ground. What were you two doing waving those knives around?"

"Sir, that's an unauthorized kill. Procedure says we have to register—"

"Register?" The old man didn't even look up as he scooped out another ladle of batter. "I was killing monsters on the Ashen Defense Line when you two were still in diapers."

The students burst out laughing again.

The line at the crepe stall never budged. People kept waiting their turn, and someone even called out, "Sir, make mine with two extra eggs."

"Got it."

Su Bai finished his bun and slipped past the edge of the crowd.

"Kabi, see that?"

"I did. Monsters have it rough these days. No official standing, and they can't even beat a street vendor."

"What's an Abyssal Core from something like that worth?"

"Eight hundred, tops." Kabi sounded disgusted. "Master, that low-level trash isn't even fit for firewood. Burn it and you'd just get a whiff of sewer."

"Exactly. It's not worth it."

The lecture hall.

Su Bai slipped in through the back door and took his usual seat in the third row from the back.

His deskmate, Lin Guoguo, was sprawled across her desk. The dark circles under her eyes were heavy enough to pass for smoky makeup. Hearing him, she lifted her head from her arms.

"Here." She pushed a cup of soy milk toward him. "I brought you one."

"What, did the sun rise in the west?"

"Shut up and drink it." Lin Guoguo let out a long yawn. "I'm exhausted. I barely slept last night, and my shoulders are killing me."

"Stayed up gaming?"

"I wish." She lowered her voice, looking thoroughly fed up. "A boss suddenly sent me work after two in the morning. Had me check channel quotes for a batch of goods until three thirty. Do all bosses love exploiting their employees? Just because they're up all night, does everyone else have to be?"

Su Bai sipped his soy milk without changing expression. "That's pretty rotten."

"Right? A boss like that's bound to go bald!"

"Well said." Su Bai nodded. "Don't say it again."

"Then again," Lin Guoguo said, rubbing her shoulder, "the pay was just too good. One order covered half a month of my living expenses. Forget it. I wish that boss a long, happy life."

Su Bai nearly choked on his soy milk.

That batch of goods was the fake raw stones he had brought back before dawn. He was also the boss who had assigned her the job.

"Master," Kabi snickered from inside the back of his collar, "she wished you a long life."

"I heard her."

"And you accepted it?"

"What else was I supposed to do?"

The old professor hadn't arrived yet. Conversation hummed through the classroom. Some students rushed to finish their homework, while others scrolled through last night's trending topics.

Su Bai had just pulled out his textbook—

WEEEE—

A shrill tone suddenly blared from the classroom speakers.

The announcer's morning notice cut off mid-sentence. After two seconds of static, a brisk male voice took over:

"Emergency notice. The Third Women's Dormitory has been completely sealed off due to a gas leak in the pipes."

"All students must remain in their classrooms. Do not move around without permission. I repeat, all students..."

The classroom erupted in chatter.

"A gas leak? Dorm Three?"

"Shit, my girlfriend lives in that building!"

"What the hell, this early? I haven't even finished breakfast..."

Lin Guoguo sat up straight. "Dorm Three? Lots of girls from our department live there."

Su Bai said nothing.

He raised his head and looked out the window.

To the northeast, a mass of gray-black mist churned above the Third Women's Dormitory. It twisted into a single strand and slowly sank toward the roof.

Ordinary people couldn't see it with the naked eye.

"Master."

Kabi's voice pressed into his mind, low and urgent.

"The gas leak is a lie. That gray mist smells just like the stuff from those thugs at the vault—"

"Some surviving zealots from the Abyssal Calamity Brotherhood have slipped in. They've got Demon-Attracting Incense targeted at the unawakened."

"Master, they're after our new recruit."

Demon-Attracting Incense.

A nasty substance. Once lit, it could pinpoint the source of an awakening fluctuation to within half a building.

Kabi's voice tightened. "They made up the gas leak to keep all the students pinned in their classrooms while they make their move."

"How long until she awakens?"

"Two hours. But those zealots won't wait. An unawakened Abyssal Core is at its tenderest, so they'll cut it right out."

Cut it out.

Su Bai shoved his textbook into the desk drawer and stood.

"Slaughtering trainee agents?" He scoffed. "How ambitious."

"Su Bai? The professor's almost here." Lin Guoguo lifted her head from her arms.

"Stomachache. I'm going to the bathroom." His expression didn't change. "Answer roll call for me."

"Hey! This is the department head's class! Do you want to lose your loan?!"

The back door clicked shut, leaving Lin Guoguo's wail inside the classroom.

The stairwell window stood open, letting in the morning wind.

Su Bai glanced both ways to make sure no one was there.

"The announcement's got the whole school pinned down. There's nobody in the dorm area right now."

"Perfect." Su Bai pressed a hand to his chest. "No one to take pictures."

"Once they light the Demon-Attracting Incense, it actually amplifies the fluctuation. I can follow the scent! Building Three, fifth floor, room 502!"

"Lead the way."

He rattled off the mortifying incantation in a whisper barely louder than a mosquito's hum. A flash of violet light flickered through the stairwell and vanished.